Monday, July 03, 2006

Pens sign Mark Eaton

The Pens have signed Mark Eaton, formerly of the Predators, to a two year contract. Eaton is 29 and has played over 300 games during six seasons. I don't know much about him, but he appears to be a defensive specialist, having lead the Predators in blocked shots and being a fixture on the penalty kill.

This is the guy that the Pens went after when Jay McKee became too expensive. He seems to be a steady presence on the blue line, which is exactly what the doctor ordered. He also doesn't take too many penalties, which can only help with the Pens.

It looks like the Pens are fairly well set on the blue line with the addition of Eaton. I have them with the following players:
  • Gonchar
  • Orpik
  • Whitney
  • Welch
  • Melichar
  • Scuderi
  • Eaton
  • Cairns
All of them are under contract, except for Orpik, who is a restricted free agent that you'd think they'll sign. I think we'll see at least one of those guys disappear before next season starts.

What do you think?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I really like Orpik, but I could see him being let go. It would be great to get rid of Cairns but there's nobody looking to trade for him, or if there was it would be for next to nothing. I guess he does add an enforcer to the team and with the Ryan Vandeenbushe fiasco, we will probably need one. Did you guys hear about Vandeenbushe? He got into a fight and ended up punching 2 cops and told another he was going to kill him... I have a feeling we won't be seeing him play in the NHL for 2-4 years.

Anonymous said...

I think I'll wait to pass judgement on this one. I've never really seen him play. But in other interesting news Andy Hilbert signed with the Islanders. here is the article.

http://www.newyorkislanders.com/pressbox/archive.asp?id=951